


When the Hunter Met the Hacker

by fictionallemons



Category: Mission: Impossible (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Benthan, Benthan Week, First Kiss, Fluff, Love at First Sight, M/M, Scuba Diving, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 10:50:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20208541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictionallemons/pseuds/fictionallemons
Summary: On their thirteenth birthday, every child receives a prophesy regarding their future life partner, or soulmate. Benji Dunn's was extremely short. It only said The Hunter.





	When the Hunter Met the Hacker

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ORiley42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ORiley42/gifts).

> Dedicated to ORiley42 for organizing Benthan Week 2019. Thank you!

To: Ethan Matthew Hunt  
C/O Margaret and Nathan Hunt  
Meadowbrook Farm  
Middlefield, New York  
August 18, 1977

Regarding Ethan Matthew Hunt's soulmate, the oracle hereby prophesies that Ethan Matthew Hunt is matched with The Hacker.  
No further information is available at this time.

Yours respectfully,  
The Office of the Oracle of Soulmates, Region 12

***

To: Benjamin Dunn  
C/O Martha and Frederick Dunn  
5 Maple Lane  
Surrey, England  
11 February, 1983

Regarding Benjamin Dunn's soulmate, the oracle hereby prophesies that Benjamin Dunn is matched with The Hunter.  
No further information is available at this time.

Yours respectfully,  
The Office of the Oracle of Soulmates, Region 8

***

**2005**

Benji Dunn didn't put much stock in soulmates. Sure, his parents were happy enough. Some of his Oxford friends had found their match and paired off gladly. But they'd been given actual _names_, tangible data they could use to find their soulmates using one of the many soulmate-finding-services out there. All he'd been given was a cryptic description. The Hunter. Not particularly useful. He didn't know if that meant literally, one who hunts. Was he destined for a redneck with a penchant for guns? Mostly he put it out of his mind. He had more important things to worry about that who he might one day pair off with. He'd just started a new job in a new city and he was trying, really trying, to stay on the straight and narrow. His hacking days were behind him. Only good-old-fashioned spy craft from here on out.

***

Ethan Hunt didn't put much stock in soulmates. Not only because his life was kind of crazy at the best of times, and at the worst—well, he wouldn't want to inflict that on anyone, especially someone he loved. Yeah, he was lonely, and yeah, he'd wondered on and off for years who The Hacker might be. He'd been jealous when he'd heard his cousin had met the girl he'd been matched with. They had two kids with another one on the way. But that didn't mean he was looking for his. How could he, with so little to go on? The fact that he was a spy who was used to proving the impossible possible didn't really factor in. He couldn't use his spy techniques to reveal the mystery of his soulmate. Could he? He couldn't help but wonder what he might find out if he started looking. Finding things was sort of his specialty, especially finding ways to do the impossible. Maybe it was time he started hunting for The Hacker.

***

**2006**

Ethan and Luther hauled themselves out of the azure blue water off the cost of St. Barthes. They'd just passed their SCUBA re-certification exam and had to get back to their hotel for a remote mission debriefing. Ethan had found dead end after dead end in search for The Hacker from his prophesy. But he hadn't talked about it with Luther and as they packed up their gear he found himself asking, "When I say the words The Hacker, what's the first thing that comes to mind?"

"The Hacker? Like, a computer hacker?" Luther's mind always went to tech first.

"I guess, so, yeah."

"Well, there are twenty or so top-level hackers operating at any one time on an international level. No one that I know of actually goes by that name. Most of them have handles designed to impress the other guys. The Hacker—it's kind of generic, isn't it?"

Ethan sighed. "Yeah. Unfortunately."

Luther was silent for a moment. "You know, IMF has some of the best hackers in the world on the payroll. Maybe one of them knows if someone uses that handle."

"Really? Like who?"

"Besides me?" Luther grinned. "There's Yusuf, Megan, Benji—"

"Benji? Who's Benji?"

"He's new. They've got him on hardware, for some reason, but I happen to know that he's got skills."

"Huh. Thanks, Luther."

***

Benji had been working at the IMF for two months and he'd yet to meet the infamous Ethan Hunt. He'd met a few of the other senior field agents, but the one everyone talked about was Hunt. One of the older programmers had told him an outlandish tale about Ethan actually breaking into CIA headquarters in the nineties. Benji had already decided the tale had to be apocryphal, or embellished, at the very least. But he was curious about the agent who had such an aura of mystery around him.

Then, one day, as he rode elevator three floors down to the basement lab where he spent most of his time, a man got on the elevator with him. Benji couldn't help noticing the man, with his handsome, open face, his hair rakishly long, his sturdy, compact body clothed in utilitarian jeans and black sweater. He made Benji feel frumpy in his lab coat, chinos, and Chuck Taylors. He must have had security clearance, but Benji had never seen him in the office before.

Benji tried to think of something to say to the man, whose appeal radiated out of him like he was radioactive. But his mind was blank. Then the elevator dinged, the doors opened, and the man simply nodded and smiled faintly as he gestured for Benji to leave the elevator first. Benji stammered out a thanks and put his head down, walking to his work station as fast as he could, feeling awkward, and then annoyed at himself for feeling awkward for no reason.

He wanted to say he was surprised when the man showed up at his desk less than a minute later, as Benji was still booting up his computer.

"You're Benji?" the man asked, his voice pleasantly melodic.

"Benji Dunn, at your service," Benji said, then winced. Could he sound more idiotic?

But the man just smiled. "Nice to meet you, I'm Ethan Hunt."

Benji processed this while he shook Ethan's hand slowly. "Nice to meet you."

They just looked at each other for a minute, Benji trying to reconcile everything he'd heard about Ethan Hunt with the gorgeous human in front of him, all while trying to figure out why he was talking to Benji in the first place.

"Is there something you can help me with?" Benji asked, then he stammered, "Er, I mean, something _I_ can help _you_ with?"

Ethan chuckled. "I don't know, Benji. It depends on if something I heard about you is true."

"That depends on what you heard."

Ethan leaned over, so his mouth was less than foot from Benji. He spoke softly, and Benji couldn't help shivering a little at their proximity, at the intimacy of Ethan's voice, low and soft in his ear. "I heard you were a hacker."

Benji considered this as Ethan moved back to a normal distance. He had been a hacker, once. And it had gotten him into trouble. So much trouble that he'd been given a choice—work for the good guys, or go somewhere he wouldn't be able to touch a computer for five to ten years. By rights, he shouldn't say yes. He should deny it to his last breath. But he couldn't bring himself to lie to this man. Besides, he'd been a brilliant hacker. He still took pride in his work, even if he hadn't always made the best decisions. "A hacker? Nah." He watched Ethan's face fall a little. "I'm _the_ hacker."

He didn't understand it, but Ethan froze at that phrase. "The Hacker?" Ethan sounded strange, as if mentally he was somewhere far away.

Benji nodded, his uncertainty growing. Had he made another error of judgment? Should he have been less cocky?

He didn't anticipate the next words out of Ethan's mouth. "I know it's gauche to ask, but did you get a prophesy? On your thirteenth—"

"Of course," Benji interrupted. "Doesn't everyone?"

"Nearly," Ethan said. "What did it say?"

"What? Why do you want to know?" Suddenly, Benji felt goosebumps break out on his arms. Why was Ethan asking about his prophesy? Unless—

Instead of answering, Benji said, "Your name is Hunt."

"Always has been."

"And do you—are you—a hunter?" Benji asked in a small voice.

Ethan furrowed his brow. "In the sense that I go out and shoot animals? No." Benji didn't know what to make of that. "In a general sense, though, the name fits. I often hunt for things in my line of work—usually solutions to impossible problems."

"Like how to break into the CIA?" Benji said before he could stop himself.

Ethan blinked, then smiled slowly. Benji hadn't gotten used to the force of Ethan's smile yet. Maybe he never would. "Hypothetically, yeah."

"Hypothetically, huh?" Benji grinned. He liked Ethan. He liked the way he looked and he liked the way he talked and he liked the way he seemed to have a sense of humor about the ridiculous nature of their jobs.

"You haven't answered my question," Ethan said, still smiling.

"What did yours say?" Benji asked.

"I almost don't care," Ethan said. He seemed to glance at Benji's mouth, then back up to his eyes. "I've never felt this—instant connection before. It doesn't matter about the prophesy."

"But you must have asked for a reason," Benji said, too bowled over by Ethan apparently feeling as connected to Benji and Benji did to him to dwell on it for long.

"All right. But I want to hear yours too."

"Fair enough."

They stared at each other and didn't say anything and then dissolved into laughter. "Okay, on three and we'll both say it," Ethan said.

"Okay. One."

"Two."

"Three. The Hunter," Benji said.

"The Hacker," Ethan said at the same time. They stared at each other, comprehension dawning in each other's eyes. 

"Well," Benji said. "This is awkward. I've never met my soulmate before."

"There's a first time for everything," Ethan said. His gaze slid to Benji's mouth, stayed there.

Benji felt his cheeks warm. He licked his lips. "I think we're going to have a lot of firsts together, _hunter_."

Ethan nodded. "I think you're right, _hacker_. Let's have one right now." And he kissed Benji, soft and sure. Benji felt the rightness of it in his bones. He hadn't put much stock in soulmates, but he was infinitely glad that his hunter had found him at last.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this super goofy fic. I've never written a soulmate au before, so...I tried!


End file.
